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Art vs Artist 2024

#artvsartist center is a photo of Tatyana, surrounded by 8 of her fav and best paintings she created in 2024: Cloud Forest, A Raven In A Palm Tree, I'll Know It When I See It, Empowered, Aurora Skeleton With Crows, Rainbow Door, Thirst Trap, Dandepops. — #artvsartist 2024

Oh no, it’s my annual #artvsartist compilation, version #artvsartist2024.

To participate in the hashtag, an artist chooses 8 of their favorite artworks that they created during the year, plus 1 photo from that year of themselves, and posts the complication image on Instagram and Twitter. The reason for this is to recap the art from the year and to see if the art resembles the artist.

This year, I created 20 paintings and these are my best 8, some of the best-selling. I love creating fun concepts and jokes with the medium of watercolor & ink.

I think my art resembles my personal style. For example, my holiday decorations:

I finally got my own Christmas tree for the first time this year. An artificial, 4-foot black Christmas tree and ornaments that I spent half a day picking out. Then later that night at 3 AM, I cancelled the order.

But the next morning, I changed my mind again and was determined to have awesome holidays so I placed the same order again. The tree that I imagined is now on my kitchen counter.

For some reason, I wanted to make a wreath. I knew I’d have leftover ornaments from the tree. I already had a wreath frame for some reason because of course I did, and so I ordered extra holographic tinsel garland. I put together the wreath with black glitter artificial Poinsettia flowers, leaves, & berries, and with shiny reddish-pink, night-blue, and lime-green ornaments.

Making my own choices, designing these decorations, and being surrounded by things I created successfully is fun. It made me realize I should’ve created them sooner. But I didn’t know that I wanted to.

When I did realize it, it was because I was determined to have awesome holidays. Also, it reminded me of how one of my dream jobs as an Artist was to design a store window display. I even have experience: while I worked as a florist in a flower shop, I got to stock up the front of the store, create floral designs and set them up around the shop, and made custom floral arrangements for special occasions. My other experience in designing storefront displays is also from designing my own booth space while showing my artwork at art fairs and popup shows. My art has been part of store displays as a featured artist. And my framed paintings are currently on display in public galleries in Illinois and New Mexico. I’m based in Los Angeles, and if you have your own brick-and-mortar store and you like my style based on my artwork and these holiday decorations, and interested in my designs, contact me. But it will be fun. Or else.

A recap of the past #artvsartist compilations from the past 4 years:

#artvsartist center is a sunlit photo of Tatyana, surrounded by 8 of her fav paintings she created in 2023: Shedding Light, Fireflies, Can'tdle, Mount Leafpile, Write, Playtime, Flourish, Angy — #artvsartist2023

#artvsartist center is a photo of Tatyana, surrounded by 8 of her fav and best paintings she created in 2022: Watching Heart Beasts, Morning Roost, Piece #39, Piece #36, Mobile Home, Piece #38, Weather Don't Play It Reigns, Lighthearted — #artvsartist 2022

#artvsartist center is a photo of Tatyana, surrounded by 8 of her fav and best paintings she created in 2021: Remains, Macaraini, Aurosa, Candy lollipops sketch, Suit, Skeletons chilling sketch, Checkerboard clouds and colorful glowing rain sketch, Piece #26 — #artvsartist 2021

#artvsartist center is a photo of Tatyana making a margarita with Espolón tequila, surrounded by 8 of her fav and best paintings she created in 2021: Neon palm tree sketch, Piece #23, Piece #22, Piece #21, Skull Lamps, Organic Fireworks, Tulipa, Through Rosé- Colored Glasses — #artvsartist2020

Thank you for all the love and for collecting my paintings, prints, and t-shirts! Happy New Year!

Satisfying Art Videos

If you’ve ever wondered how I paint with watercolor, you can see my art painting videos on YouTube. In these soothing ASMR painting videos, I share my timelapses of a painting being created, how to use watercolor in actual speed, and various watercolor techniques as part of my paintings on this website.

This playlist will be updated every Tuesday morning with a new video. Subscribe here so you don’t miss them.

Paint with me in watercolor & ink new weekly painting videos

I also share the art materials I use in the description of every video so you can pick up the brush and paint with me. Or if you’ve just always wondered how I create my paintings, you can sit back and watch and enjoy. If you enjoy the videos, please click the thumbs up button to let me know that you enjoy them.

Watch now

Art studio tour

I can’t believe I’ve been showing my art since 2007 and I’ve never shared an art studio tour before. No, actually, I can believe it because all my past art studios have been very uncomfortable and not photogenic. Yeah, I know, we live in an “Instagram highlight reel vs. Reality” world. But before this, I never had an apartment that could even be considered in an Instagram highlight reel. Despite being uncomfortable, I’ve created artwork and shared artwork, not making the ‘uncomfortability’ aspect of my life a feature or defect or even a mere existence in my art… for some “it’s not you, it’s me” reasons:

I didn’t want anyone to feel sorry for me or let pity have any impact on why someone would buy my art or hire me.
I didn’t want to parade around “expressing a message” as if my situation was okay, because it’s not okay.
I didn’t know what “comfortable” was. I had a general idea of how I wanted to improve my situation and worked towards those goals but I had no idea what I was missing. What am I missing now?

Whatever. Today, I’m grateful.

The easel where I paint bigger pieces, 11×14 or larger. Watercolor and ink are very prone to gravity, so sometimes I lay out a towel on the floor and paint there, too. My bookcase and coffee table are for my display planning & sketching, a place for my brushes + paint palettes + brush rinsing water containers, and a place for coffee + books, imagine that.

I love paint swatches so much, that I walk on them. I found this rug on Amazon after searching for one for several days. After I had the rug I adored, I started spending a lot of time on it. And the clear acrylic coffee table was something I imagined I’d like to have someday so that I could keep working from my thinking couch and thinking floor but the view of the rug wouldn’t be blocked. But tables like that are $150 – $250+, and sketchbooks and coffee don’t float for free. Then one day, one of my neighbors made my dream come true when they set out a clear acrylic coffee table outside for anyone to take. I admire my lucky anti-gravity find every day from my thinking couch, which also faces the best and the only window in my apartment.

My desk, where I create sketches and paintings 8×10 and smaller. This desk style is a bit in the style of a of a vintage/antique writing desk. This is where I’ve recorded all my painting time-lapse videos and done a lot of writing. I think my hidden talent is selecting random colors that unintentionally mix and match well together, per my taste. This is what happened when I got everything for my studio slowly, one piece of furniture at a time, and I never once thought “oh, this will go great with the other furniture.” Except for that clear coffee table, because gravity.

I found this mirror at a yard sale for $8 in central Illinois in 2007, when I was first starting to show my artwork. I’ve changed the logo and writing on it over the years, but the mirror has been my business sign since I started doing art fairs. My second hidden talent is selecting furniture that doubles as show equipment.

New art from the heart

I have hearts in my logo, and Valentine’s Day is coming up, so how could I possibly not acknowledge this chair holiday. In this sentence, “chair” is an adjective. I’m using the word “chair” to describe the holiday because it’s a metaphor for how I looked around the room and saw something that I love.

Piece #25 is one of the new originals that are in the shop. I ended up painting some of the Pieces in more detail because I wanted to see how certain details would look with a new painting technique I’ve developed. These paintings would look pretty classy in a black frame, or both matted & framed in black. I’ve created several new original paintings available in the shop, all of which I painted at night while sitting in the chair that I love.

“A Calm Within A Qualm” 3×3 limited edition vinyl sticker – $3.49 Buy sticker

And a new limited-edition sticker from my 2010 painting “A Calm Within A Qualm”. Stick it on your phone case, your laptop, your chair, use it as a bookmark, or anywhere you’d like to have a little sanctuary. These stickers are beautifully printed by Sticker Mule.

Prints of “A Calm Within A Qualm” are also available for your sanctuary.

Thanks for reading and for checking out my work.

Love,
Tatyana

Art vs Artist: My Celebration of 2020

Right now my apartment smells like cinnamon, eggnog, and coffee. No, this is not a blog with too much information about my personal life before I share my recipe for how to make cinnamon eggnog coffee. Just mix the 3 and let me know if you like it because I haven’t tried it but it sounds good.

This blog is only about too much information about my personal life, which also happens to be my professional life. Being an artist, the line between personal and professional is often blurred.

Although like many others, my goals and plans were thwarted by a pandemic, there are still things I’d like to celebrate that are professional but personally important to me. “Celebration” is just another word for “gratitude”. Look it up.

I’ve had the privilege to focus on my art this year, allowing me to further evolve and develop my style.
I started making “Pieces” again.
I set up my website to be my main place of selling my artwork, like an independent online gallery space. Basically, I’m a business owner.
I created a show in the style of a mockumentary called Artist, which so far I’ve been able to put together 2 ~~videos~~ episodes but will make more as I get into a better flow of, like, actually documenting my work and talking about it. I’ve always said in job interviews that my weakness is letting people get to know me. So I’ve been working on that, including making those ~~videos~~ episodes and writing this blog.
A few days ago, I posted a Reel on Instagram that got 1K+ views.
During the entire year of 2020, I’ve lived and worked in Los Angeles, without which I would not have been able to make such progress during such a rough year.

This #ArtVsArtist2020 image is the first year I’m participating in the #ArtVsArtist hashtag, even though it’s been a thing for a while. Because of how much I use social media on a regular basis, I’m so ashamed that I’ve missed it before.

From what I understand is: an artist chooses 8 of their favorite artworks that they made during the year, and includes 1 photo from the year of themselves, and posts the complication image on Instagram and Twitter. My painting style evolved further around late Summer, and I’ve been very happy with that so far, so the work I’ve chosen I created all after that. And the photo of me I chose posing with my favorite tequila, Espolon Blanco, while I was making a margarita in November.

Not everyone loves social media, but as an artist I do because I use it to show my work to lots of people (who also may or may not love social media but are still on it). And my social media is a form of documenting my work and its progression. It’s like a public diary that everyone gets to comment on.

Can you imagine living your everyday private life while anyone and everyone watches you and comments on your every move?

#TBTart – The Artworks of 5 year-old Me

Thursdays, most people post old photos of themselves on the internet for fun, but I want to post my old art. This is my creative edition of the #ThrowBackThursday.

Warning: last drawing might be NSFW for dogs. Cover your dog’s eyes for the last segment.

Space ships, human seesaw, exaggerated princess dresses, cigarette-smoking crab, urinating dog… You know, the usual stuff that 5 year-old me drew in 1990 while still living in Ukraine.

I wanna see your old creations. If you have some, post them here in the comments, or your Twitter/Instagram and tag them with #TBTart.

Featured on Design Juices

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Design Juices features a lot of awesome illustration and design, and I’m so excited that my illustration work was featured alongside such great artists! My feature shares a some background info about my artistic influences and my project IllustrArticles.

You can read it here.

Check out more features on Design Juices and follow on Twitter for daily inspiration.

Teaching At An Elementary School Art Class: Finally… REAL Super Heroes!

Art teacher at Mossville Elementary, Brian Du Pont, invited me to lead on an art project for his art class. Because I worked on a bunch of superhero illustrations recently and Brian publishes his own superhero comic Pecos Bill, I came up with the idea to have his students create their own superhero symbols. The guidelines to create their artwork were:

1. Combine two elements in the symbol: One thing that scares you + One thing that you like or enjoy doing.

2. Illustrate your symbol using watercolor & ink.

The project was inspired by Batman, my favorite superhero. When Bruce Wayne became Batman, he chose a symbol. Bruce Wayne is disturbed by bats because he fell down a well full of bats as a child. He uses the bat as his symbol to conquer his fear in the processes. He projects this fear to become Batman and fight crime.

Brian had his students sketch out their symbols and draw the final art on watercolor paper. And the day I came to visit, I showed them a couple techniques they could use with watercolor and ink to paint their symbols.

It was so awesome seeing in person what the students came up with for their symbols. They worked with their own ideas and caught on to the painting techniques immediately! And I am not surprised, because they are, after all, real superheroes. This was their works in progress:

Brian even took the project a couple steps further by having his students write a statement and frame their art:

Since all these super heroes are revealing their fears, it’s only fair that I reveal my own. It’s kind of embarrassing and makes no sense to me: I get social anxiety sometimes. That literally translates to “being afraid of people,” even though I love people. But just like with Batman, it probably has to do with things I’ve had to deal with in my childhood.

I’ve created different versions of my Razorberries logo over the years, but the elements within it have always been the same. Razor and berries.

Adventures in Screen Printing as a Newbie

There’s something magical and inspiring about being a complete newbie at something. And when I say magical and inspiring, what I really mean is awkward and terrifying. And that can be a good thing.

The Beginnings

At age 9, the only English word I knew was “Yesterday” thanks to The Beatles and my dad playing and singing their songs with his guitar. Today, I know more English words than Russian words (my native language) and naturally think in English.

At age baby, I drew stick figures wearing stick capes and imitated my parents’ cursive handwriting by drawing squiggly lines. Today, I like to think that I’ve become slightly better at the drawing and writing thing than I was back then.

I’ve learned that you’ll never learn something new unless you practice. And that you still won’t learn something new if you compare yourself to others.

While seeing lots of screen prints in the past few years by some of my favorite artists, such as James Flames, I became curious about the screen printing process. When I learned about the screen printing classes at Lillstreet, I took one.

The Teachers

This is Matthew, the screen printing teacher:

It may look like he’s pondering deeply about the great impact he’s making on the world by teaching people new skills, but something’s telling me he’s probably pondering deeply about the ingredients that would make the perfect beef sandwich for lunch. Not sure how I know this. Just a hunch, I guess.

This is Nora, the screen printing teaching assistant:

When she’s not teaching her own 2,483 different printmaking and textile classes, she assists other teachers, like Matt, and other screen printing newbies, like me.

She also likes the sky. Which is great, because the sky is awesome. Nora is running a project called Blue is the Sky, where everyday she, or another participant somewhere in the world, holds up a paint swatch that matches the color of the sky at that moment, and then takes a photo of it. In addition, she currently has a flag installation at the rooftop of Lillstreet called Interactions of the Sky.

The Lessons

This screen printing class helped me better understand printmaking and layering of colors. Plus, it helped me experience that vulnerability of feeling completely clueless about how to do something. Each of us are good at something, but only doing what we are good at can cause us to think narrowly. Those moments when we feel like we’re out of our comfort zone are an important part of personal growth.

At moments, I felt angry when I couldn’t remember the proper steps of the process. But I had to let that anger go and think about what I’m doing and try to remember, or ask for guidance, and keep going. Here’s a bunch of pictures from the various steps it took to create both of my prints:

And of course… The Mistakes

As a screen printing newbie, I made plenty of mistakes. It seemed like it was just unavoidable! As mentioned above, I kept forgetting the steps. Sometimes, it was the most simple things.

My favorite one is when I was getting ready to burn my screen for my “Shiptini” print, and used a fellow classmate’s screen by mistake. I didn’t realize my screen got moved and I didn’t think to check the name on it. So, for the remainder for the classes, I was known as Jonathan and he was Tanya.

The Results!

This is KLOUDZ, my first ever screen print using 3 colors:

And this is Shiptini (Or shipteeny), my second ever screen print, using 3 colors (which should have been 4 colors but I ran out of time for all of them)! Color-mixing assistance and title, courtesy of Nora.

My classmates created awesome prints, as well. Each of us were from different personal and professional backgrounds, and with different interests. It was a great experience to come together to learn this same screen printing process, and for each person to learn their own lessons and end up with their own results.

RedBubble!

Earlier this week, I had the pleasure of getting together with Martin Hosking, Laurie Briggs, and Peter Tomassi from RedBubble, along with some of the Chicago RedBubble artists. RedBubble is the main website which produces and sell my prints along with thousands of other artists.

And, they came bearing RedBubble swag with my work on it:

Currently, I don’t have any t-shirts on the site, but “Every Bone” looks great on a shirt so I may have to add the t-shirt option there soon.

RedBubble does great work on the products. In addition, their brand colors and their new RB logo naturally fit just right with Razorberries. Awesome coincidence.

After our get together, I went home feeling energized with new ideas. Or, to put it more accurately, my brain was doing the happy dance.